Barony Open Day

Wow. It's taken me till to day to get my feet back on the ground after the excitement of Sunday's Open Day. It's only now I can review everything that happened and sum it all up.

At 7am on Sunday morning I looked outside to find an unspoilt fairytale land of peace and quite, glistening whiteness (lovely) with a marquee about to collapse under the weight of snow on its roof (arrrggghh!). I'd managed to pick the only day a freak snow storm rolled into town. It was also the coldest day, I'm sure! However with a silver cloud attitude, it did make my little grotto look all festive and hid the weeds in the garden.

Anyway, this set us back time wise (it took Dave nearly an hour to clear snow from the marquee and fix the roof) and we were very surprised when the first customers came over at 10:10, bright and early. I felt so bad for the first couple of people to look around as I was not as set up as I would've liked to have been. The snow seemed to have everyone talking so it wasn't too bad.

The day was VERY busy and even though I had help from my friend Anne I still could have done with a few more pairs of hands to help out. Dave held the stall as I did wee tours of the workshop but as soon as someone needed a gift box I would be called into action. Anne kept the nibbles stocked up. The nibbles included mulled wine, brie & chutney on French bread and homemade lemon & ginger biscuits made by my friend Linda (gee, they were really good).

Boozy Mulled Wine &

Heavenly Non-Alco Glogg

Linda's Yummy Homemade

Lemon & Ginger Biscuits

I didn't manage to take any pictures during the day as I was so busy but once the last customer went I wizzed round to take some of the aftermath. I should have one of those official observers to take my blog photos. I'm finding that I'm too busy doing something to stop and take an interesting picture for the blog or I think I should have taken a different photo so it ties in with what I want to talk about.

Outside

Inside

As a first attempt at an Open Day I think it went well but there is now a long list of 'what not to do/must remember to' for the next one. I'm now in the middle of making up all the gift box orders taken on the day. Dave will have to get back into his workshop and make more of our handmade gift boxes for me to fill.

Our next stall is at Tullibannocher on Thursday night and I'm sure our Christmas soaps will go quickly. I can't keep up with the demand for our Tipsy Auntie and Candy Cane. If only I could employ some of Santa's elves to help!

Candy Cane (Pepermint Strawberry & Vanilla)

Tipsy Auntie (Mulled Wine)

Thank you to everyone who was able to brave the weather and make it over to Barony, especially those who came from further afield. I hope you managed to tick a few christmas presents off the list. If you couldn't manage over then there'll be plenty more opportunities to catch us before christmas. Or... give me a call and make an appointment to do your gift buying at a time that suits you.

Finally I want to say a huge THANK YOU to David, Linda, Anne & Peter for all the help.

Don't Blame Us...

We were at a 3D2D craft fair in Glasgow this weekend with some of our new Christmas range.
We had quite a bit of interest in our new candles in pots and mugs made by the award winning potter John Maguire, but by far the biggest hit was our Typsie Auntie soap. This has a lovely mulled wine fragrance, but judging by the giggles and titters heard around the stall I think the name had a lot to do with it's popularity. Most bars were intended as presents for friends or relatives who could associate with the name, so if you receive one in your stocking this Christmas please don't be offended and remember we only thought of the name, not of you!!!!

Cash Flow Woes

I find this time of year such a worry. I know that I need to start building up my stock for the Christmas craft fairs and I've worked hard up to now to make sure that we are booked into craft fairs every weekend right up to 20th December but I have little money to actually buy supplies to make everything. We've recently joined the Federation of Small Businesses and the membership and joining fee is nearing on £200. Product and Public Liability insurance costs a fortune & there're many more hidden payments that the customer never see. I'm really excited about my Christmas range of soaps and new candles, I just hope that I can somehow manage to buy all the essential oils needed. The list includes litres of Cinnamon Oil, Sweet Orange Oil, Clove Oil and our Tipsy Auntie fragrance. The first big show of the season is on Saturday and Sunday at the Glasgow Concert Hall and at the moment I'm trying to design my Christmas-ified stall as well as finding enough space on the table for all the new Christmas products I have. I'll post the photos next week. Until then here is a photo of me in the workshop batch numbering my soap (excuse the dodgy hair net and lab coat!).

Christmas gets earlier every year, ba humbug.

Well, it's been a long time since I last blogged. I've been busy making stock, ill (just a bad cold), very busy making stock, lots of fairs & markets, very, very busy making stock and... phew!

You won't hear me complain though, but if you do... just remind me of my old desk job. That's enough to boost my enery levels. I did think working from home would mean that I would have plenty of time to make wonderful homemade gourmet dishes everynight for my husband's dinner, homebakes for the girls coming around for the odd morning coffee and lots of jams and pies to give as gifts. Huh, so much for that idea, I'm lucky if I can get a sandwich for lunch and at busy times poor Dave usually ends up with boring homemade soup for his dinner.

Anyway, this week I'll be making my new Christmas Range including Tipsy Auntie (mulled wine), Chocolate Orange, Deck The Halls (holly & mistletoe). Along with some of the old favourites, Three Wise Men gift pack, Candy Cane, Christmas Cracker, Let it Snow & Winter Wonderland.

This weekend is the first of our Christmas Fairs (it's not even Halloween yet!)